Manila to Zamboanga (MNL to ZAM)

Arriving in Manila, I was expecting a blast of hot air to hit me but having just come from summer in L.A. the impact of the Philippine heat was minimal. First things first. I entered the first bathroom (or in Philippine parlance: CR) I could find to relieve myself. I noticed a man in uniform standing by the door and I couldn’t figure out if he was a valet or a cleaning guy. Next up: customs. Clearance through customs was not a problem even though I declared that I brought a computer and a cell phone for personal use. Before exiting NAIA Terminal 1, I need to exchange some dollars to pesos. A money changer was conveniently located near the exit of customs. The exchange rate was 41.80 pesos to the dollar that day. Boy did I feel rich having a wad of high denomination peso bills in my waistpack. Then I went looking for the shuttle bus which took passengers around the four terminals of NAIA. With a 20 peso fare, I got dropped off at terminal 3 for my flight to Zamboanga later in the day.

First order of business in terminal 3 was to buy a SIM card and load some minutes into my cell phone. My brother recommended SMART so that’s what I bought. After doing a rebooking of my return flight at the Cebu Pacific ticket counter, I started scouting all the floors of this relatively new terminal. In doing so, I managed another half hour or so of a walking workout. Up and down hallways, and up and down 4 floors I went. I noticed that it was cooler in the first floor and as you went higher, so did the heat. After my walk, I tried to connect to the free wi-fi but could not get a strong enough signal to keep me logged on. My brother told me later the signal was stronger in the boarding area. I ended up trying my new SIM card and texting my brother, a friend and a cousin while trying to kill time.

When it was almost time to board, I went to the entrance of the waiting area and an employee of Airphil weighed my carryon baggage. It was 10 kilos, 3 more than allowed. He told me to find a plastic bag so I could divide the contents and make the carryon lighter. I wandered about thinking where I can get a plastic bag and when I was about to leave, the employee took pity on me and allowed me to enter the boarding area despite the excess weight. Going through another security check, I placed my baggage, wallet, cell phone, belt, and shoes on the x-ray rollers. When I got to the other side of the body scanner, my cell phone was missing after passing through x-ray. I asked the security people if they had seen it. The guy ahead of me could have picked it up by mistake or intentionally after all. After a few seconds, to my relief, one of the security guys saw that the phone had fallen through the rollers. Whew! A disaster averted.

In the waiting area, the cacophony of Chavacano and Tausug dialects permeated the air in addition to the humidity. My brother Larry called to find out how I was doing but I could barely hear him because of the noise. When it was time to board, one of the Tausug guys was asked by the ground personnel to take off his sunglasses so they could see his eyes. I told him on the way to the plane that he should have winked at them.

Oh my, I’d forgotten how cramped the seats are on domestic flights. I’m not heavy set and I still felt squeezed in the tiny seat. It didn’t help that I was on the window side. My back felt uncomfortable the whole hour and a half of the trip and I squirmed throughout. The only thing I got out of my seatmates is that when they arrived in Zamboanga City, they still had a bus ride to take to Zamboanga Sibugay. I didn’t envy them.

Having no checked in baggage, I breezed through the arrival area bypassing the baggage carousel. Heading out to the street, I was swarmed by tricycle and taxi drivers offering their rides. I was already forewarned that the ride from the airport to Western Mindanao Medical Center should only cost about 50 pesos. These drivers were asking for as much as 80. I compromised with one of them, a fellow Tausug, for a still overpriced 70 pesos. After flying and waiting in airports for more than 30 hours, I was in no shape to haggle and argue over 20 pesos. On the way, the darn driver even had to borrow 50 pesos to put some gas in the motorcycle tank. Well, at least he got me to my destination safely. Believe me, I was so disoriented with the streets that evening, I didn’t even know which way was up.

And then after 13 very long years, I finally saw Mama…

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Los Angeles to Incheon to Manila

Having been picked up by an airport shuttle company at about 6:30 p.m., I had plenty of time to kill at LAX before my Korean Airlines flight to Incheon leaving at 11:30. I spent the time trying to connect to the free wi-fi and it took a while to figure it out because there were two available but only one that was working, and that was only after I had to see an ad in a browser. I got hungry after awhile since my last meal was about 3 p.m. so I went around looking for some food. After entering the departure areas, there were fewer choices where you can find a decent and reasonably priced meals. I ended up eating a hotdog and diet soda (I kept the chips for later). I must say, that was the most expensive hotdog snack I’ve ever eaten.

While in line to board the plane, a Korean woman asked me to keep an eye on her carryon baggage because she forgot to pick something up from the duty free shop. Well, that’s just something the TSA tells you exactly not to do - watch somebody else's baggage because it could be a bomb. Who knows if that woman would come back? But come back she did much to my relief.

A couple of hours before leaving, I posted on Facebook that if someone acted out during the flight, at least the Koreans on board would know taekwondo and if my assistance was required, I’m trained for the Management of Assaultive Behavior, which is a requirement of my job. Oh wait, that's only if psych patients acted out in the hospital. I guess the Korean kickers would have to do without me.

When we boarded the plane, I was relieved to see two other skinny people sitting in my row. At least we would have adequate room between us. After a brief introduction, I found out that the girl in the window seat was Japanese, the guy in the middle was Chinese, both half my age, and myself a Flip. You couldn’t get any more Asian in that row. William works at Abercrombie and Fitch while Atsuko, whose brother lives in L.A.  was returning home from vacation. Throughout the flight, there was one thing I noticed about the Japanese girl. She slept most of the 12 hour flight and didn’t eat any of the meals. I found her later at Incheon waiting for her connecting flight and teased her that the sleeps like a cat and eats like a bird. I discovered something else about the girl – she used to be a flight attendant for Korean Airlines but gave it up to study tax accounting.

To entertain myself inflight, what else would I watch but a couple of running movies. First was Fast Girls about British sprinters trying to qualify for the Olympics and then the classic Chariots of fire. In between, I took naps while listening to classical music. Wait a minute! I don’t do classical music! Well whatever works to get some rest, I guess.

            After deplaning at Incheon, I went looking for my departure gate for Manila, then having found that, I still had about 3 hours to kill so I started a walking workout at about 2 a.m. while pulling my carryon luggage. The main hallway of the terminal took about 10 minutes to cover end to end and with a couple of other long hallways which I went up and back several times, I completed a 45 minute brisk walk.

            Then it was time to leave for Manila. Unfortunately, I don’t recall very much about that leg of the trip other than the flight attendant telling me that the flight wasn’t full and to feel free to move to another seat. I then asked her if that included first class.

Darn, she said no! Well, so be it, onward to the Philippines in coach class. One thing I can say about the uniform of the flight attendants: they have a pointy scarf that if you are not careful, it can poke an eye out.

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